Immature Fruit turning soft

bossjim1July 28, 2012

I have a Ponderosa lemon tree, three years old, in a large pot. It has lots of lemons but I just noticed that they are getting soft while still green. I think I have a problem but don't know how to diagnose it Can you help?

Jim, can you post up some photos of the tree? It may be that your fruit is just starting to come ripe, and this is simply a normal process. If we can see the tree and the fruit, maybe we can give you some ideas on what's going on.

Thanks Patty. The one largest lemon is beginning to turn yellow, but the tree has fruit of probably 5 different sizes and is blooming again now. I'm embarrassed to say I think I have solved the mystery. We have been getting a lot of rain over the last 2 weeks, so I haven't watered. Well, I soaked it real good this morning and this evening nearly all the fruits are firm. I think they were just dehydrated. Does this make sense?

Yes. Absolutely. Be care in having wild swings in watering or you can end up with split fruit. Keep watering it on a regular basis so it doesn't dry out. When fruit get soft, the skin will shrink. When you rehydrate the tree and the fruit rehydrate, the skin won't stretch back, and it can split. But, got that was all it was!